And here you were, thinking the legal tussle between Apple and Nokia couldn't get any uglier. Well, it turns out it can, as Nokia has filed another patent complaint, this time to the US International Trade Commission. This new case revolves around patents other than the ones in the first case.

According to a press release pushed out by Nokia, Apple infringes upon Nokia patents in virtually all of the Cupertino's hardware products, from mobile phones, portable music players, to computers. Seven patents make up this case, in the areas of user interface, camera, antenna, and power management technologies. "These patented technologies are important to Nokia's success as they allow better user experience, lower manufacturing costs, smaller size and longer battery life for Nokia products," the Finnish company claims.

"Nokia has been the leading developer of many key technologies in small electronic devices" said Paul Melin, General Manager, Patent Licensing at Nokia, in a statement, "This action is about protecting the results of such pioneering development. While our litigation in Delaware is about Apple's attempt to free-ride on the back of Nokia investment in wireless standards, the ITC case filed today is about Apple's practice of building its business on Nokia's proprietary innovation."

While we here at OSNews, and the geek world in general, have a tendency to dislike patents, we have to remember that there is a difference between software and hardware patents. I am diametrically opposed to the idea of software patents, but when it comes to hardware patents it's a different story. It appears the portfolio of patents referred to in this case consist of both software and hardware patents.

Back in October 2009, Nokia struck the first blow in this legal tussle between the two technology heavyweights by claiming Apple's iPhone infringes patents covering GSM, UMTS, and wireless LAN standards. Apple officially responded early December when it counter-sued, claiming Nokia infringed upon 13 Apple patents.